*
“The death is upon me. I am very weak. I don’t deserve this. Behind the scenes, I was one of the most powerful men in the world. I thought surely I would be one of the few left alive and I prepared well for the aftermath. The survivors will need people like me to lead and rebuild. My wife and daughter are dead. John drove us to the barn and I locked their bodies in a cubicle inside the vault. We’re both infected and didn’t have the energy to bury them. I shot John so I could be alone with my thoughts without his whining. I barely made it to my desk. Even as I write I am feeling weaker so sleepy. I know if I close my eyes, I will never wake. It had been my intention to burn this place to the ground. The thought of a common person occupying it disgusts me. It’s too late now. I’ll never leave my chair. I will leave this one last thought. I know what—.”
*
“He ran out of energy in mid-sentence. The bastard shot his helper just so he could be alone.”
Beth shuddered. “He sure thought he was better than other people. He didn’t deserve to live in such beauty.”
“There were a lot of people like him, still are if John Saint is an example.”
“I’m glad you’re not like him,” she said. “I’m glad you’re who you are.”
“You know there’s some things we need to talk about.”
“I know we need to talk, but not right now. Is that okay, Jake?”
“There’s no rush… You know, I don’t remember seeing a door inside the barn.”
“You’re right. Now I think about it, the barn was a lot smaller inside than it was outside. You want to go look?”
“Yeah, I do. The word vault is intriguing.”
As they passed through the doors of the office, they heard a clattering from behind them. Startled, they turned in time to witness Walsh’s bones scattering across the oak flooring.
“I guess he left that chair after all,” Beth said, deadpan. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
The vault was simply a cleverly concealed roll-up door at the back of the barn. A huge armored truck with a machine-gun turret dominated the opened space, the top of it towering above them. Taking up one sidewall were four steel cubicles with padlocked close-fitting metal doors. The vehicle grabbed Jake’s attention.
“I can’t believe it,” he said in amazement, “this is a Navistar MaxxPro transport vehicle. I haven’t seen one of these since Afghanistan in 2012. This is a later model. Fredrick had some expensive toys. This had to set him back a million or better. It’s for sure this unit never saw combat, it’s like brand new.”
“It sure is big and heavy looking.”
“You bet,” he replied. It weighs over twenty five thousand pounds. The best armored-transport ever made. I’ve got to check it out.” He climbed aboard the huge vehicle and disappeared inside. He exited a few minutes later, and went to inspect a row of metal shelving on a sidewall that held dozens of metal cans. Beth noticed his puzzled expression, and followed him.
“What’s wrong Jake?”
“Nothings wrong, it’s just that Walsh had a company do some modifications to the engine. See these big canisters of vegetable fats and turpentine and chemicals on the lower shelves. On the drivers seat I found a booklet with instructions on how to prepare the oil and turpentine to run in the diesel engine. A bunch of other instructions too on how to fire up an add-on preheater for the fuel. The small containers on the upper shelves are ethanol... pure grain alcohol. The preheater uses ethanol for a heat source. We could fuel it up and drive it out of here.”
“Is that good... I mean, do you think we can use it?
“There’s no physical reason why we couldn’t. The batteries are dry and ready for acid and the plastic bottles near them are the sulfuric acid they need. Even the machinegun is loaded. It has lots of new features too, a telescoping gunner’s mount attached to the deck and the machinegun uses caseless ammo in canisters.”
“Would all that stuff still be good?”
“The booklet claimed the materials have a practically unlimited shelf-life as long as they remain sealed.”
“I guess you’re ready to mix some fuel. We could go after John Saint and his army,” Beth joked.”
“Yeah right,” he responded in kind, “even with a MaxxPro, I’m not a Mad Max.”
“What’s a Mad Max?”
“It’s from an old movie. A character named Mad Max was always taking on odds too big for him.”
“Oh,” she responded. “I wouldn’t know about that. I barely even remember seeing movies, and they were mostly kids’ movies.”
“You didn’t miss much.” Jake retrieved his rifle from where he’d leaned it when he mounted the vehicle. “This vehicle is nice, but it’s useless to us, way too noisy. We’ve done enough sightseeing. We need to make some miles before dark.”
They were soon at the cut. Jake took the point position. There were no further distractions. When they had only an hour of daylight left, he spotted a relatively clear location to set camp for the night and waited for Beth to come from her trailing position. Again, he noticed a strong scent of flowers. Deep down in his soul he knew Agnes had something to do with Beth’s use of perfume. The scent was having the exact effect they’d planned. He couldn’t help noticing her as a woman.
“It must be camp time,” she said, setting her pack down beside his, “because my belly says it sure is supper time.”
“Yeah, I’m getting a little hungry myself. We're not that far from the end of the cut but I'd rather approach it in the morning when we'll have plenty of daylight. How about I set camp while you get our little stove ready.”
“I thought it was your stove,” Beth said.
“What?” Jake asked confused.
“The stove. You called it our stove.”
He looked at her for a moment before speaking. “First of all, saying “our stove” was not a Freudian slip. Second, these little innuendos you keep sliding into our conversations are not very subtle.”
“I like it when you use big words,” she responded, laughing. “I have no idea what you’re saying but they make me shivery inside.”
He couldn’t help laughing along with her. “You’re right, I did sound pompous, but I want you to cool off the chase. I’m not ready for it.” He took one of her hands in his. “To me it was only yesterday you were a skinny little girl. Now I see a beautiful young lady in full bloom.”
“I’m sorry I lied about my age, but I am a full woman.”
“I know you are, but in my mind I still see the child inside the body and it will take a while for the image to pass. Do you understand what I mean? I need time to adjust.”
Beth stared at him and he could almost see the thoughts passing through her mind.
“I understand the words, but it doesn’t change how I feel about us. Take your time, but not too much. In this world, death could be around the next bend. Hell, it could come right now while we’re talking. You know it as well as me. I don’t feel like I’ve got a lot of time, and I want to live what I do have. Think about that while you’re adjusting. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get, ‘our’ supper ready.” With that, she turned her back to him and began rummaging through the packs.
A minute later, he had one more thing to ponder. Agnes and Beth only packed one lightweight single-person tent instead of the two he had assumed he'd find. They would be practically sleeping on top of each other. He began clearing an area to place it. Beth called to him as he was setting the last stay line.
“Did you mean it when you said you see a beautiful young lady when you look at me?”
He finished tying the stay and went to where she was squatting beside the little stove. He sat across from her and spent a moment studying her face.
He saw her full lips, her wide-set soft brown eyes, her high cheekbones. He noticed the way her nostrils flared as she breathed. A feeling of déjà vu swept through his mind causing a mental shiver. It dawned on him he was seeing the same beautiful woman he had env
isioned in a small cave by lamplight, brought to life in every detail.
“You’re making me feel strange, staring like that,” she said.
Jake collected his thoughts and responded. “You asked me a question and I want to answer fully. You’re beautiful because of who you are. Things have happened to you and you’ve seen things and done things that would have destroyed the soul and spirit of a lesser person, yet you’re still complete.
“That’s part of your beauty. However, you asked if I meant it when I said you were a beautiful woman. The answer to that is, yes, I think you are very beautiful. For the last month, it has taken all my control not to see you as that. I felt seeing you as a woman would be a betrayal of how I should behold you.”
Her face lit with a huge smile.
“You’re so serious. Can’t you just say something simple like, ‘Wow, you’re really beautiful’?”
Smiling, he stood and struck a theatrical pose. “Wow, you’re really beautiful!”
“Thank you,” she responded, “and may I say that I find you to be very handsome?
“Yes you may, and might I also say you’re not making much progress getting our supper ready. I’m hungry.
“If I have to wait for you to think about us, I reckon you can wait a few more minutes for your supper.”
After the meal, dusk set in. Jake cleared an area close to the tent and unrolled his sleeping bag.
“It’s such a nice night I’ll sleep out here so I can see the stars. You can have the tent if you like.”
“As pretty as the stars will be, I’ll be sleeping in the tent. You get too cold you’re welcome to join me.”
He was right about the stars. Nine years of nature and the nanobots washing humankind’s pollutants from the air made them seem brightly huge and close. When he fell asleep, the full moon was beginning to peek over the tops of the pines on the opposite side of the cut.
The sound of Beth softly calling his name drew him from sleep.
“Huh,” he grunted, struggling to sit, “is everything okay?”
“Hush Jake, everything’s okay.”
“What are—?
“Shush now. I’ve lain hours working for the courage to do this. I need to tell you something and then you can go back to sleep.”
She moved to where the light of the full moon fell directly upon her. She was dressed only in a sweatshirt and panties.
“I have something to say and I want you to listen to me. Are you awake?
“I’m awake.”
“Don't say anything else, just listen.
“It hurts to talk about my mother,” she began. “I loved her, and I miss her so bad. When I was little, she would say things to me that were like moral sayings.
“The two sayings I remember that are right for tonight are, ‘people perceive you to be as you present yourself’. The other thing she said was, ‘Bold people do bold things’. I’m going to change how you perceive me by doing a bold thing. I want you to honestly listen to me and watch me, and let me change your perception.”
She’d captured his attention. He felt a bit of resentment at her tenacity, but the biggest part of him was flattered she felt him worthy of her persistence.
“You think of me as a child, but in truth, you’ve never seen a child in me, only a small human. A child plays and skips.
“The playing and skipping skipped right out of me the day my mamma and daddy were killed.
“My childhood left when I was raped. It left when you splattered me with the blood of a man who was on top of me yet again. I’m not a child.”
Beth turned her back to him and removed her panties and sweatshirt. She raised her arms above her head and turned, her firm breasts, momentarily silhouetted in the moonlight. She continued to turn until she faced him again, the full moon highlighting and enhancing every aspect of her face and body.
She cupped a breast in each hand and held them in a manner that displayed the full ripeness of them.
“These breasts are new. I didn’t have them before I met you. They grew for you, and they belong to you.
“There is one other part of me that belongs to you,” she said, “and along with this physical me, you have my love. My heart is yours. I love you, Jake. I’m going back to bed. Just remember one thing Agnes said to tell you. If you say those three words to me, you better mean them, or she’s going to cut your balls off.”
With that, she gathered her panties and sweatshirt and re-entered the tent.
*
Beth was awake and busy by the cook stove. He sat, rubbing his eyes before squirming from his sleeping bag. He’d slept in the clothes he wore the day before.
“Good morning sleepy head,” she called out. “You have time to wash before we eat. If you go straight back from the tent, you’ll find a little creek. There’s not much to it, but there’s enough flow to use a washcloth.”
He did as she suggested. The water was cold and by the time he was clean he was refreshed and ready for the day.
They had leftover rice and corned beef for breakfast. By an unspoken agreement, neither of them mentioned what had happened during the night. Jake had to admit, the event changed how he perceived her. He tried not to, but his eyes followed her every move. By the flirtatious, slightly embarrassed smiles she cast his way, he could tell she noticed,
They continued the procedure of the previous day, taking turns trailing each other. Three hours after starting out, Beth was in the lead when Jake topped a small rise and saw the paved road was within sight just beyond her position.
As he was keying his small two-way to signal her to hold, a form rushed from the edge of the woods and tackled her. They went down, disappearing from view in the brush.
Jake threw caution to the wind and bolted towards them. As he ran he tried to see what was happening, but no one had regained footing.
He was moving so fast he almost tripped over the still form of a man lying on his back. Beth was close to him, kneeling in the tall brush, trying to get to her feet. He moved to help her.
“Are you okay?” he asked, panic-stricken. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay,” she replied hoarsely, “He knocked the air out of me.” She struggled to stand, drawing ragged breaths.
Drawing his pistol, Jake turned to the burly man lying on the ground and kicked him as hard as he could in the side. “Get up you bastard!”
“You can kick all you want mister, won’t do you no good. The bitch done gone and broke something in my back. I can’t feel none of my body.”
“Serves you right. Where’s the rest of your gang?”
“Ain’t no rest of us mister,” he answered. Just me and a gal I got tied up in the woods.”
Beth regained her breath and moved to stand beside Jake.
“He talks like low class trash, doesn’t he? I see why you want us to speak better English than this filthy animal. It does set us apart.”
“Shut up, you uppity nigger bitch.”
Jake kicked him in the side again. “You shut up,” he said vehemently.
“I told you,” the man said, laughing like an idiot, “kick all you want, I don’t feel nothing.”
Jake knelt close to his face. “Will you feel it if I gouge out one of your eyes, because that’s what I’ll do if you don’t shut your mouth.”
“What do I care, I’m good as dead anyways, so fuck you!”
Beth bent to pull Jake away. “Leave him alone. Don’t get his blood on you. Like he said, he’ll be dead soon enough.”
Jake stood and saw her face for the first time. She had a lump forming over her left eye. The same side of her face was abraded and bleeding from her struggle.
“Damn it,” he cried out in anguish. “This can’t keep happening.”
“I’m okay, just bruised, and scraped.”
“I thought he’d killed you, he hit you so hard. I don’t know what I’d do if something bad happened to you. This has to stop.”
Beth stepped closer to him.
“Are you saying I mean a lot to you?”
“Yes you mean a lot to me,” he replied. “What do you think? I thought I’d lost you.”
Beth stepped even closer, standing face to face with him, tilting her head slightly to see his eyes.
“Tell me how you’d feel if you lost me Jake.”
“Yeah Jake, tell the nigger bitch how you’d feel if you lost her.”
Beth planted her booted foot over the man’s mouth, pushed down hard, and kept it there. She wrapped her arms around Jake and pressed her body tightly to him without breaking contact with his eyes.
“Tell me how you’d feel if you lost me, ‘cause you haven’t lost me, I’m right here.”
His eyes entangled with hers and his mouth flooded with the taste of chocolate. His entire world was composed of her and the scent of flowers. “I’d feel lost damn it. I’d be lost!” He tilted his head. Their lips touched and they kissed. A kiss that lasted forever. Forever passed and they kissed again and again. When their lips parted, the man was dead.
CHAPTER 11
By backtracking from where the man had emerged from the tree line, they found the ‘other gal’ lying on the ground, gagged and bound. He’d leashed her like a dog with a rope from her neck tied to a tree. Her face was bloody as was her ripped and shredded blouse.
“She’s about been beat to death,” Beth said as she knelt. “Her face is so swollen you can’t tell she’s got one.”
“Not dead,” the woman managed to say past the loose gag and her swollen lips, her words barely recognizable.
Jake removed the gag and cut the rope binding her. They helped her to a sitting position with her back braced against the tree.
Pillow-like puffiness surrounded her eyes. Her nose lay sideways on her face and was still bleeding. Her lips were a split bloody mess. Her ripped flannel shirt exposed her blood covered breasts and stomach.
She sat, clumsily trying to rub flow into her hands. Beth took over and soon the woman was moaning with the pain of feeling returning. Again, she attempted to speak. Beth bent closer to hear.
HARD ROAD: Heaven Bound Page 16
